MightyBook www.mightybook.com
What the resource is, how it works and what you need to make it work
MightyBook is an American online publisher that was
founded in 1999, with two of its founders being former educators with more than
20 years of classroom teaching experience. MightyBook is specialised in children’s animated eBooks and story songs
for the ages 2-10. However, most children in Sweden are taught English in
school between ages six and seven and therefor these eBooks and story songs are
well suitable for pupils in primary school.
MightyBook offers limited numbers of free services,
such as animated eBooks and story songs. However, if you want to access all
services, they offer various types of memberships for a fee. As a member, you
can access new additions of interactive activities every month. You can sign up online or by mail and you
will be offered the “MightyBook 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee”. In other words
you can try Mightybook for 30 days, and if you are not satisfied they will give
you a full refund.
Some
services, such as the animated eBooks require Adobe Flash Player.
How the resource can be used by teachers
Teachers can use MightyBook in numerous
ways. Just by skimming through the various links you will find inspiration of
how to work with your pupils. Animated eBooks for one can help arouse the
pupils’ interest in books. The animations are beautifully designed with a humorous
approach. The eBooks are also a great way to introduce English literature. While
watching the animated eBooks every word in the stories are highlighted as they
are spoken, which gives the pupils’ a greater chance to keep up. The stories
can be paused at any time you wish and if you missed something in the previous
page/pages you can always jump back one or more pages.
In the main menu to the left
there is a link called words and letters,
which leads to a page where you can find useful animated books. Book of nouns for example offers
multiple links to different slideshows that includes animals. These books could
be very useful when the pupils’ are going to learn what different animals are
called in English. When the picture of an animal is shown, the animal’s name in
English is presented in both text and audio. This gives the pupils’ the chance
to hear how the word is pronounced and how it is spelled.
Another usable link in the main
menu is called parents and teachers.
There you will find several topics that can be used for teaching. For example,
there is a link called poems with
activities. When entering that page you will find poems and activities that
are arranged according to grade level.
At the bottom of the page there
is a link called teachers, which will
direct you to a page intended for teachers. On this page several usable links
are given, such as animal ABC flash cards
that teachers could put up on the classroom wall.
How the resource can be used by pupils
The website is well suited for pupils in primary
school. If they would have trouble understanding the English words, the
pictures will help them find their way. As a pupil you can find many
educational activities that are made in very creative and amusing ways. To name
a few, they could:
Watch an animated eBook of choice
Watch an animated classic song
Watch an animated story song
Other considerations when using this resource
MightyBook can be used in many ways when teaching. I
strongly believe that it is important to incorporate the pupils’ interests in
our teaching. Since most of today’s kids are well oriented in terms of
computers and the Internet, and appreciate the time they get to work with the
computer I believe computer based activities are a very good resource. Most of
MightyBook’s activities can be used by pupils individually as well as in small
groups. They work very well for whole class activities as well.
When reading what MightyBook’s users have to say about
them it is clear that it is a very popular publisher. The users recommend it as
a great resource for special education students as well as second language
learners.
I will gladly recommend MightyBook as well! Enjoy!
/ Linnea Rannelid
Linnea,
ReplyDeletefirst of all I would like to thank you for sharing this amazing site with me and the rest of the group! I am absolutely smitten with all of this. I am definitely using this site when I start working with my new class this fall. Perhaps I'll try to get the whole school to register? It is very useful indeed. Exploring childrens' books and other written material in English is a big part of learning a second language. I am especially certain of this now that we've had Niclas course about childrens literature in English. I generally liked your presentation because you covered all the essentials and you presented how both teachers and pupils could work with the site.
However, there are two things I would like to point out.
Firstly, the structure of your presentation could be more clear. The first headline suggest that you will describe what the resource is, how it works and what you need to make it work. In my opinion you only describe what the resource is, the description of how the resource works could be developed further. A lot of these things has been described, but under the headlines about how the resource can be used by teachers and pupils. My suggestion would be to briefly mention these things under the first headline aswell. Because, as a reader you expect to understand how the websites works after having read the first section of your presentation. But, in reality you don't understand how it works until reading the whole presentation.
Furthermore, you don't describe what is needed in order to make the resource work. Even though it is quite obvious that you need a computer since a website is desribed, you still have to write it down. You have to follow the headlines because the reader expects you to, otherwise the headlines just confuses the reader. It would also be interesting to know what other useful resources you might suggest using while working with this website.
Secondly, on the website I read that they emphasize protecting the environment by providing people with books without the need to cut down trees in order to make paper. I think this would have been interesting information to ad to your presentation, perhaps under the last headline, "Other considerations when using this resource", since it is truly something to consider; the amount of paper consumed by the schools all over the world.
I would like to end this critical analysis by not being so critical. I liked that you used pictures in your presentation, it is inspiring because it motivates the reader to visit the website which suits your purpose with this presentation. I would also like to mention that your writing and language is very accurate.
Again, thank you so much for bringing my attention towards this site. I am certain I will have great use of it in my future career as a teacher!
Best regards,
Ann-Sofie Brage